| Want a closeup? - click on any image to enlarge it | An exceptionally fine-sounding cutaway OM from one of The World's truly great guitar makers and featuring a traditional (custom order) inch and three quarter neck width. The smallish body is comfortable and curvy, sitting at a good height on your knee, while the tension generated by the relatively long-scale neck both drives the top and lends a very positive feel to the play. The Sitka spruce soundboard has been meticulously selected: Collings tops taper towards the sides, with more mass in the middle, but each is voiced only after its stiffness is expertly checked... there’s so much more to a good top than just meets the eye. The precisely carved neck is a spacious (but non-standard) Inch and three quarters or 45mm at the nut and with a shallow-ish, slightly veed profile, topped with an even black expanse of solid ebony and inlaid with minimalist notched diamonds and sqaures at the 5th, 7th and 9th frets. Voice As you'd expect, it's got a beautiful, clean and dynamic voice, but its amazing depth and complex overtones take you by surprise and continue to do so as you keep playing. As you reduce the attack to play quieter pieces, it responds and offers something tonally different - it invites you to leave space in your music, because each note contains such lush harmonics. Now dig in with a flatpick: It responds like an even, balanced dreadnought with focus. Each note is independent and strong, yet linked by its overtones. Dimensions - Across body (lower bout)
15" (38.1 cm) - Body depth
4 1/8" (10.5 cm) - Scale length
25.5" (648 mm) - Neck width at nut
1 3/4" (45 mm) - String spacing at bridge
56 mm Construction -
Back & Sides Indian rosewood - Soundboard
Sitka Spruce - Pickguard
bevelled tortoise style - Binding
tortoise style - Fingerboard
Ebony - Machineheads
Nickel Waverleys - Bridge
Ebony - Neck
1 Piece: Mahogany - Nut & Saddle
Bone - Case
deluxe arched ply, crushed velvet lining |